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A Miramax Deadline Could Re-Open Door for Weinsteins

An investment group that includes the construction executive Ronald N. Tutor must make a nonrefundable $40 million payment toward the purchase of Miramax Films from the Walt Disney Company by Wednesday, or see the bidding again thrown open to other suitors, possibly including the Miramax co-founders Bob and Harvey Weinstein, according to people who were briefed on the prospective sale.

Word of the deadline further complicates a sale that has faltered as potential buyers checked out Miramax, a storied independent film company that had been virtually shuttered by Disney, only to make no offers or to propose terms that were far less than Disney wanted.

Reached on Monday, Mr. Tutor, who is the chief executive of the Tutor Perini Corporation construction company, said he was blocked from discussing the proposed purchase by a confidentiality agreement that expires on Thursday.

Asked about the deposit, Mr. Tutor said: “You’ll know by Wednesday.”

Several people who were briefed on the sale — and spoke on condition of anonymity because of the confidentiality requirements — said the deposit was to be accompanied by a plan to finance the purchase for about $650 million plus as much as $25 million in closing costs, though signed commitments from lenders are not required by the Wednesday deadline.

The bid remains complicated by questions about the future of Miramax film franchises like the “Spy Kids” and “Scary Movie” series, in which the Weinsteins, who ran Miramax before leaving in 2005, continue to hold rights.

The Tutor group includes the private equity firm Colony Capital, which has been guided in the transaction by Richard Nanula, a former chief financial officer of Disney who joined Colony two years ago.

The group was granted an exclusive bargaining window for Miramax after talks with a group led by the Weinsteins and their principal backer, the investor Ron Burkle, collapsed amid dickering over a bid that was lowered from about $600 million to $565 million during a similar exclusive bargaining period.

On Monday, the Burkle-Weinstein group appeared poised to re-enter the bidding if the Tutor effort failed, according to people who were briefed on that bid. A Disney spokeswoman declined to comment, as did a spokesman for the Weinsteins.

Colony, an equity firm founded by Thomas J. Barrack, has already dipped its toe into the entertainment business through unusual distressed investments, including Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch.

Disney has been publicly trying to sell Miramax since March. The proceedings have been marked by a torrent of media miscues, the collision of big personalities — Harvey Weinstein lashed out at Robert A. Iger at the recent Allen & Company gathering in Sun Valley — and endless delays as lawyers for the multiple parties scrutinize every step.

Although some in Hollywood have started to see Disney’s inability to close a deal as an embarrassment, the asset is a small one that wouldn’t have a material impact on Disney’s bottom line one way (a sale) or another (Disney yanks it off the market).

Miramax, which once had 500 employees, was pared down last fall to essentially no staff, a move by Disney to make it more attractive to a buyer.

As talks with various potential buyers have dragged on, Disney has decided to release the handful of Miramax movies still on the shelf. These films include Julie Taymor’s “Tempest,” now set for a December release, and “The Switch,” a Jennifer Aniston comedy that arrives in theaters on Aug. 20.

As of late last week, according to people who were briefed on the sale, the Tutor group was still scrambling to lock up financing. Mr. Tutor suggested that any move to pay a deposit would settle such questions.

“Nobody’s going to put up that kind of money if there’s any doubt,” he said.